Friday, July 17, 2009

Such a move would simply hand a perfect justification to the regime to sideline opposition protests by issuing a rallying call for national unity against a foreign enemy. Exactly the line it is using in propaganda already. But with the smoking ruins of it's nuclear program as justification, it could even declare a state of war.

Curiously, such Israeli action has already been given the cover it needs: through supposedly loose talk about Israel's right to pursue it's national interest by U.S Vice President Joe Biden; and by both Obama and Hillary Clinton deadlining negotiations with Iran at September.

It's all the more puzzling considering that even talk of such intemperate actions works against the chances of Mousavi --who has already indicated a willingness to negotiate on ensuring Iran's nuclear program remains solely for civilian use.

Not much of this makes sense if you are working on the assumption that the leaders of "The West" are keen to see the emergence of democracy in Iran.

They're not.

It makes a lot more sense if you realize the value of the dancing sock-puppet Ahmadinejhad as a propaganda justification for the neo-colonial adventures of the Anglo-American-Israeli power axis against "crazy Muslims".

When you factor in that alliance's long-term, strategic relationship with Iran's regional rival: Saudi Arabia, then the combined value of the sanctions and the pathetic government of Iran in slowing Iran's economic and political advancement also makes a lot of sense.

Doubtless we can rely on the Israeli end of the alliance to launch a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, if the regime can't suppress the uprising by September.

As one astute tweet on Twitter put it:

G8/Obama to Iran: You have until September to destroy the protests. Don't screw up.

Iran issues have in recent weeks become clouded with a dense fog of disinformation. The most pernicious of all, is the disinfo that the West loves freedom and wants the people of Iran to have a share.

Wikileaks.org today reports that the website has been blocked by Iran.

Today also, Wikileaks says that two weeks ago it got a tipoff about a nuclear accident of some sort in Iran, in advance of yesterday's news that the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, had resigned.

The Wikileaks report omits to mention that Aghazadeh is a close ally of Mousavi -which might more readily explain his departure.

Two weeks ago, a source associated with Iran's nuclear program confidentially told WikiLeaks of a serious, recent, nuclear accident at Natanz. Natanz is the primary location of Iran's nuclear enrichment program.

WikiLeaks had reason to believe the source was credible however contact with this source was lost. WikiLeaks would not normally mention such an incident without additional confirmation, however according to Iranian media and the BBC, today the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, has resigned under mysterious circumstances. According to these reports, the resignation was tendered around 20 days ago.

Then it was picked up by the Huffington Post, which admitted that the story lacked verification.

According to the Post's account, Taraheh M. (Mousavi) , a 28-year-old Iranian woman was detained on Friday June 19 (incorrect -it was June 28) at the Ghoba mosque in Tehran. Taraneh, whose first name is Persian for "song," was reportedly moved around Iran's detention system and her family could not locate her.

Fast-forward to recent days, when her family reportedly got an anonymous phone call tipping them off that Taraneh had been admitted to hospital. The caller gave details of injuries to Taraneh consistent with rape. When the family went to the hospital they found that Taraneh was only briefly there, unconscious all the while.

Yesterday, the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran called for her release. Today one of the blogs originally covering the story reported that the family were informed yesterday that a burned corpse matching Taraneh’s description had been found in the desert between Karaj and Qazvin. They were threatened to keep quiet about the affair.

According to the blog report, the family went to Ghazvin and recovered her body, but are close-mouthed about funeral arrangements.

Taraneh has already been celebrated online as a victim of brutal gang rape by sub-human Basiji security forces. However, that outrage is based solely on some Twittered blog reports. No professional journalist has reported on this from immediate sources. Even the claim of rape comes only via an alleged anonymous call.

Monday, July 13, 2009

'Anonymous,' the group behind the highly successful free speech campaign against Scientology is taking an increasing part in the resistance to the Iranian government. The group has issed a free speech 'fatwa' against the Iranian regime.

That development was echoed in a move by another group related to Anonymous. Two weeks ago a message appeared on Anonymous Iran on behalf of a group called: Task Force /i/ran.

The short identification code '/i/' is likely the signature of an offshoot of the 4.chan.org website. 4Chan is the origin of 'Anonymous.'

The posted message indicated a cyberwar campaign was imminent against Iranian government websites, especially those publishing photos of protesters in an attempt to identify. The group stated it's intentions thus:

As the eyes of the entire world hold you under close scrutiny, the eyes of the internet have taken a similar notice of your recent actions. While the governments of the world condemn you for your suppression of human rights, Anonymous has taken a particular interest in your recent attempts to censor the internet, not only for your own people, but for the citizens of the entire world.

Such suppression of dissent cannot go unpunished. By cutting off communication of the Iranian citizens to the rest of the world, you have made it clear to us that the most revered of human rights - the right to free speech - is no longer important to you. By seeking to silence the voice of the people in an election and subsequently seeking to silence criticism of such a gross cover-up, you have perpetuated the anger and rage of your people. Anonymous has therefore made it our mission to see to it that the voice of the Iranian people can be heard around the world.

Just like another authoritarian religious extremist group, Anonymous will tear down the walls of silence using only the truth - the truth that you are trying so hard to suppress by use of violence, intimidation, and fascist laws.

As your people continue to riot and to speak out against you; as you continue to beat and shoot your own citizens in the street; as you continue to lie to the face of the entire world; know that the internet is watching - and we do not like what we see.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

A new documentary by Manon Loizeau on AlJazeera, filmed secretly inside Iran in the aftermath of the election, confirms the details of the crackdown which Iranian activists have been blogging about. It's unmissable watching.

Persons unknown disrupted the #iranelection tag used by Iranian opposition activists on Twitter for almost all of Saturday 11th July. Legitimate messages coordinating political opposition to the Iranian government were drowned out by massive volume of tweet spam for a product called Turbo Cash Generator, and also for www.tonig.ht -a free domain registration service.

Twitter did not seem to respond to requests block the spam content -which is rendered the #iranelection tag unusable, especially to less experienced users. That looks like an abrogation of their corporate responsibility to protect an online system vital for free speech and political organization.

The sheer volume of tweet spam (up to 70% of tweets -see image) was counterproductive from an e-marketing point of view, so it's possible that Turbo Cash Generator was not the actual entity behind this cyberattack. Another entity may have used their product as cover for the attack.

A new anonymity software program created by Austin Heap, called Haystack is just set to launch. But that product will be undermined if the most popular Iranian opposition tag on Twitter is destroyed by cyberattack.

After an overnight lull, the "Killer Software" spam is back Sunday. But the Twitter short links it is using, are no longer valid on bit.ly's link translation system. So there is no benefit in traffic to the originator. Just disruption of the #iranelection tag on Twitter.

The originator of the spam is still unidentified.

In response to a media enquiry by me, provideing details of the affiliate code being used in the spam, turbocashgenerator.com said it would have the spam stopped, but did not admit if the affiliate code was genuine, or if the company itself was responsible for the spam. Nevertheless the spam continues today.

UPDATE:2:00am EST Monday

Thanks to help from Tweeters and AnonymousIran members, though spam continues on Twitter, the spam level in the #iranelection tag is now reduced to a trickle. A number of spammers have been contacted directly by #iranelection's AntiSpam team and have backed off. However, they or other spammers may show up again. We will continue an aggressive response to any spamming of #iranelection. Latest here.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Scott Lucas is Professor of American Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK, and Adjunct Professor of the Institute for North American and European Studies at the University of Tehran; also a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for American Studies and Research at American University Beirut. A specialist in US and British foreign policy, he has published extensively on Middle-East politics -especially on the Suez Crisis. Professor Lucas is a frequent contributor to American, British, and international media. He writes for, and is a founder of, the weblog EnduringAmerica.com --where he currently blogs unmissable news analysis and reporting.

Based on analysis of considerable video evidence and news/tweet reports. From the reported totals at key locations - add those in these key location marches who did not make it to the center. Also from an analysis of videos depicting scenes at intersections; and reliable reports that the protests were widely scattered down to local level.

iraniscc: Tabriz: ABresan jnct and Univ.sq.hell of lot of gaurds would arrest any one suspicious.

iraniscc: a call from Mashad: ppl in Park jct. up to 7/8000 dispersed and united later

iraniscc: guards tried very much to disperse ppl in Saadat abad bazar in vain

Nico: Shootings reported. "Tweets passing around that there are heavy clashes near Azadi Square.. Word is out that 3 people have been shot by security forces."

MikVerbrugge: The #nir team protecting "friend" personalities are out of harm's way, no casualties

MikVerbrugge: Tehran Basiji reporting heavy casulaties & many units either on the run or retreat. It's like entire Tehran is an urban combat zone. Security Forces uninterrupted requests for backup & distress coming fr all over Tehran. NIR taking out unidentified snipers, trying to keep situation calm until personalities they are protecting are out.

Combined tweets ~8:53pmTehran

MikVerbrugge: From emergency dispatch of Tehran: Fire in Mirdamad getting out of control 8:30pm Tehran

You may know of Austin Heap from his fight with Comedy Central, after he established a website to host free-view episodes of South Park. He's fighting a different battle these days: building a software system called Haystack to enable Iranians bypass state censorship of the internet - as TehranBureau.com reports:

In his converted loft apartment in the semi-sketchy-meets-startup SoMa neighborhood, Austin Heap, 25, spends most of his time in front of his computer — a PC tower that he built himself and hacked to run Mac OS X.

Heap didn’t have much knowledge or interest in Iran until very recently. As foreign media began to be kicked out of the country, information coming from online sources became that much more crucial.

“Three weeks ago I was very happy playing Warcraft and I was following the Iran election,” he says. “But it wasn’t until everything escalated there that I got involved.”

On June 15, three days after the election, Heap sprung into action....

When Neda Agha-Soltan was gunned down by an armed motorcyclist in a Tehran street, the world recoiled in horror. The grisly scene was a repeat of a similar incident in 2000, when a prominent reformist journalist and politician, Saeed Hajjarian narrowly escaped assassination - also by a gunman on a motorcycle. Both murder bids are thought to be the work of the 'Lebas Shakhsiha' - plainclothes security agents who operate beyond the reach of the law.

Shot in the face and neck, his injuries in that attack left Hajjarian severely disabled and needing constant medical care. Notwithstanding his severe disablement he was detained by Iranian authorities on June 15th.

After visiting him in prison, Vajiheh Marsousi, the wife of the dissident intellectual said his life is in danger due to his poor health and lack of medical care; and that he was under intense pressure to sign a false confession about an imaginary foreign plot to overthrow the government. He is now thought to be in a coma. Human Rights Watch has called for his release.

Back in 1972, Professor Muhammad Sahimi, of TehranReport.com (whom we interviewed here) was a classmate of Hajjarian's in Tehran University. His profile of the man he describes as "one of the most important intellectuals and political thinkers of Iran over the past few decades," is here.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

A high-stakes, cyberwar is still raging to prevent webpages full of photos from being used to identify, imprison and likely abuse or torture Iranian street protesters. One website, Gerdab.ir has in the last 24 hours posted 70 new photos of the protesters, with identifiable faces ringed by red circles. Currently it is the main target in the cyberwar.

The battle has been ongoing since these photos first appeared on a number of websites, with 'hack-tivists' scoring major successes and bringing down key sites in the last two weeks. But it's an online war which has ebbed and flowed, as defensive measures were deployed by the target websites.

At least one website, khodkar.ir was suspended by its internet domain hosting service. After an approach by an activist, Jottie Tolatzis on behalf of LeaseWeb confirmed that the company would take the website offline.

Some of those participating in the cyberwar range are amateurs who simply repeatedly load the target pages to slow them down on the internet. Others are experienced hackers deploying sophisticated denial-of-service tactics and software to take entire websites offline.

One of the most prominent internet locations where activists coordinate their cyberwar campaign is Anonymous Iran, where a list of the webpages which contain protester photos has been posted. The 'Help Iran Online' section of the site has many discussion threads tracking the progress of attempts to block the target websites.

The outcome of the cyberwar has serious implications for the protesters seen in the photos. If they are identified and incarcerated their fate is dire. Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed concern that detainees face torture or other ill-treatment in Iran. Credible accounts say that rape of prisoners is taking place.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave a 30 minute address on Iranian national television Tuesday night, claiming that the turnout and his officially declared victory gave the government new legitimacy.

"This is a new beginning for Iran ... we have entered a new era," Ahmadinejad said. "This election has doubled the dignity of the Iranian nation."

But according to an Associated Press report, his television speech was delivered to the sound of cries of "Death to the Dictator" and "God is Great" heard shouted from rooftops in many parts of Tehran.

The speech was also accompanied by widespread electricity blackouts said claims by online protesters using Twitter. The protesters had earlier pre-arranged a call for Iranians to plug in heavy power load household devices such as dryers, irons and toasters at 9:45pm local time, as Ahmadinejad's speech began.

Popularly-mandated Iranian presidential election candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, referring to ongoing resistance to the official election result, declared Monday in Tehran that "this movement will continue," according to a report on Parsine.com.

In statesman-like comments, Mousavi insisted that the government had no legitimacy because of the popular vote, but that nevertheless "we must proceed through the framework of the law."

Mousavi was addressing guests in the informal setting of an art gallery, on a holiday in honor of Shiite saint, Imam Ali.

The statements are a continuation of a recent policy of not giving grounds to the government for accusing him of formenting public disorder.

Mr. Mousavi also spoke to relatives of those detained in a side meeting to his attendance. He also met with Mehdi Karoubi and former president Mohammad Khatami on Monday and the trio called for the immediate release of detained protesters, his website reported.

Despite his low-key address there was no indication that a protest rally scheduled for Thursday in the center of Tehran, adjacent to the university was cancelled. That day is also the ten-year anniversary of the Basij militia raid on Tehran University to suppress student protest. In addition to the scheduled Tehran march, rallies are also planned for other Iranian cities, including Shiraz, Mashhad, Esfahan and Tabriz, according to an editorial on TehranReport.com.

A sandstorm continues to blow through Tehran and much of Iran. In a sign of government nerves, SMS text messaging services, which had been functioning again for the last five days were again cut off in the capital. The state-controlled media outlet, PressTV.ir has been silent on political developments for the last 24 hours.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Photos of election protests around the world are being forwarded widely in Iran.

SMS service has been shut down once again in Tehran.

A sandstorm in Tehran is allowing protesters to go through the city writing anti-government slogans on city walls.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s son-in-law has been disowned by his father. Mahdi Khorsheedi’s father now says he no longer has a son named Mahdi because he had sided with Ahmadinejad.

Hamid Maddah, a core member of Mousavi’s campaign in Mashhad, died in custody on Saturday. He had been arrested in Gowharshad Mosque along with many other Mousavi supporters. According to sources, he had been tortured badly and wasn’t able to recover. The official death certificate registers the cause of death as internal bleeding in the skull.

One of a pair of Iranian doctors, who fled the capital to France says an unofficial tally by medical staff at Tehran area hospitals counted 92 violent deaths related to conflicts with security forces. The death toll is considerably at variance with an official figure of 17 deaths.

The account of events in Tehran by the doctors, who declined to be identified for reasons of personal safety has been published today in the online edition of the French newspaper Le Figaro. They say that intimidation prevented them revealing the scale of casualties but motivated them to flee to France to reveal the details.

Among the dead were an eight months pregnant woman and six young males found dead in Shahriar, on the outskirts of the capital. "They all died from wounds in the neck," said the second unidentified doctor, quoting information from a trusted medical colleague. "Their skulls had been smashed and their brains had been opened, presumably to retrieve the bullet and destroy evidence of the crime."

On June 15th, dubbed "Black Monday" by the second doctor, the Rasoul Akram Hospital, near Tehran University, received 38 casualties, including 28 wounded and 10 dead.

"We found that the bullets had passed through the torsos diagonally, which means they were fired from above - ie a roof," says the second doctor.

To conceal the nature of the assaults, doctors at Tehran hospitals were forced to certify that the deceased died of natural causes. A colleague of the second doctor who was on emergency duty at Erfan Hospital, paid a price for refusing to cooperate. "After being missing for thirty-six hours, he was found half-conscious and disfigured on the sidewalk near the hospital," he told Le Figaro.

"In several hospitals - including Rasoul Akram and Imam Khomeini - we organized sit-in protests. But state television, they said it was a strike for better wages."

Due to resistance by medical staff, the bodies of some protesters were speedily removed. "We think they were transferred to the Baqiatollah military hospital or a place unknown to the general public," says the doctor. Then, under the pretext of "organ donation", the evidence of bullet wounds were excised. Families were forced to go along with the deception in order to recover the remains for burial.

The Le Figaro article adds that a witness in Tehran, contacted by telephone told the newspaper that burials in the public cemetery at Behecht-e Zahra take place under surveillance, with the cause of death prohibited to be indicated on gravestones.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

According to Iranian journalist Omid Habibinia, in excess of one hundred protesters have been killed in the course of the election crisis. Quoted in the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, he also reports[english] that 2,700 people have so far been incarcerated and 50 journalists arrested.

"According to our records more than 100 people were killed between Tehran and other Iranian cities. On June 20th alone, more than 30 people were killed by the police and the militias.... A few bodies have been returned families on assurance that there was no funeral or talk of what had happened.... Hospitals were required to provide certificates of death with a diagnosis of heart attacks or car accidents..."

On his Twitter feed, Omid reports that hundreds of detainees families gathered in front of Evin Prison in Tehran again today, Sunday 5th July, 2009.

Iranian election Twitter feed 'IranRiggedElect' is reporting a weblog claim[English] that Neda Soltan's killer was Abolfazl Kiani, a security guard at Ministry of Interior, and an intelligence agent. The Twitter reports say her killer was himself executed "with 3 bullets from Intel agents at 10:30pm."

Saturday, July 4, 2009

UPDATE 11:50GMT 5th July: The authenticity of the NYT report below, and the Iranian association it mentioned has been investigated by members of the Anonymous Iran forum. Their investigation casts serious doubt on the validity of the NYT report.

Clerical opposition to the Iranian coup regime is hardening. A statement[English] by the Association of Researchers and Teachers at the religious center in the city of Qum, on Saturday called the presidential election and the new government illegitimate.

The New York Times reports:

“This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic,” said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. “Remember, they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.”

The announcement came on a day when Mr. Moussavi released documents detailing a campaign of fraud by the current president’s supporters, and as a close associate of the supreme leader called Mr. Moussavi and former President Mohammad Khatami “foreign agents,” saying they should be treated as criminals.

The documents, published on Mr. Moussavi’s Web site, accused supporters of the president of printing more than 20 million extra ballots before the vote and handing out cash bonuses to voters.

Since the election, the bulk of the clerical establishment in the holy city of Qum, an important religious and political center of power, has remained largely silent, leaving many to wonder when, or if, the nation’s most senior religious leaders would jump into the controversy that has posed the most significant challenge to the country’s leadership since the Islamic Revolution.

With its statement Saturday, the association of clerics — formed under the leadership of the revolution’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini — came down squarely on the side of the reform movement.